CHICAGO -- Toyota sounds like it has come up with a novel way to lure car buyers into considering the first fuel-cell car it plans to start selling next year.

Sure, hydrogen fuel-cell cars will cost significantly more than conventional cars and there are few stations to fuel them -- none in many cities. But what Toyota appears to have discovered is that when they are compared to the other zero-emissions alternative, battery-powered electric vehicles, or EVs, fuel cells suddenly don't look so bad.

Toyota plans to start selling a zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell powered car in the U.S. next year, right along with similar models from Honda and Hyundai. The new model made its U.S. debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

"It really provides all the benefits of a plug-in EV without the range anxiety and without the time it takes to recharge it," says Bill Fay, group vice president of the Toyota division, in a interview at the Chicago Auto Show.

Since most battery-powered cars are limited to about 100 miles per charge, the term "range anxiety" has come to mean the worries that owners face about running out of juice before they can limp home or to a public charging station. Hydrogen cars can go hundreds of miles on a fillup, and the fillup only takes about five minutes, Fay points out.

Toyota's Hydrogen Car Makes US Debut at CES
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At present, California, the state that once had planned a "hydrogen highway" of stations, has nine. But the state has plans to vastly increase the network, says Bob Carter, a senior vice president for Toyota.

Studies have shown, he says, that fewer stations than might be expected can support the needs of a lot of drivers. As few as 68 is enough to meet the needs of drivers of 10,000 cars.